Shattered
by BellatrixLestrangey
Summary: Acxa breaks a glass and Lotor cleanses the wound.


Lotor sighed as he dabs at Acxa's palm. "You have to be more careful." The cloth comes away, tinged in red.

"I'm sorry." She mutters. "I tried to catch it."

Lotor looks at the glass littering the floor. "This will sting." He replies bluntly and unwraps an alcohol wipe. He hears her apologize again. "For what?"

She points at the shattered glass. The remains of what had once been a beautiful chalice. Fresh out of cheap cups, he had let her use it to dip her paintbrushes in. "Don't worry, I can get a new one." The cut was rather deep, nothing worth stitchs, but deep enough that a band-aid probably wouldn't cut it. He hears her sharp intake of breath as he brings the alcohol wipe to it.

"It was an expensive one though."

"Yes." He replies, unraveling the bandages. She is quiet for a good deal of time. He wonders if she is expecting him to yell at or reprimand her. Instead he pats the, uninjured back of her hand and mumbles, "you're all taken care of, try to be more careful next time."

Her face colors and she shifts in the chair.

This isn't the first time she has dropped a glass or knocked over something on the pricier end. He doesn't know how someone so grateful and balanced on the battlefield could be so clumsy while doing more mundane tasks. He has to chuckle to himself. Acxa is truly a thing of her own. He notices her head dip and he thinks that she is probably growing worried that she is irritating him.

So he carefully picks up her injured hand and says. "I'll get a new one. It'll look just like that one and it will be like you never knocked it over at all."

"You aren't angry?" She asks.

"Not particularly."

"But you are a little unhappy?"

He has to be careful with how he phrases things around her. It slips his mind rather frequently, how she had been treated prior to joining forces with him. "I am not unhappy, Acxa." He replies. "You worry me sometimes." He gives the wad of bloody cloths a look. "I'm not mad at you."

 **.oOo.**

She doesn't understand how he could be so patient when she continuously seemed to make a mess of things. She feels him stroking the back of her hand and it sends pleasant jitters fluttering in her belly. Still, they can't seem to overpower the nervous brand of jitters.

"What are you painting?" He asks.

She looks away from her bandaged hand and to her painting. "I am trying to paint what it looked like inside of the weblum."

"A curious subject matter." Lotor replies and she wonders if he thinks it is a stupid idea.

"It helps me feel better about…"

"About being stuck in there for so long?" He finishes.

She nods.

"I shouldn't have sent you alone." He notes.

She feels awful all over again. He doesn't think that she can handle difficult tasks. He thinks that she needs a babysitter. "I can-"

"I know you can handle it by yourself." He says. "You came back, didn't you. But I think that some tasks are meant for group work. Yes?"

She stares at her hands. "I suppose."

He doesn't leave her with much room to dwell on her mistakes and inabilities before taking her into his arms. She can't help but let her eyes go wide. She can't recall a time when he has hugged anyone, let alone her. He pats her head. "I recruited you because you are special, you have the talents I am looking for."

She returns the hug, her belly knotting itself more.

 **.oOo.**

"I do?" She asks.

He has trouble understanding how she couldn't see it. "Yes, you do." A little more confidence would do her well. He supposes that he will take it upon himself to help instill it within her. He slips his hand under a curtain of blue hair.

She doesn't talk.

He has come to know that she isn't a woman of many words.

He listens to the sound of her soft breathing, feels the rise and fall of her chest against his own.

He tilts her head up so that he can look her in the eyes before kissing her in the nose. It is a test run that leaves her cheeks even more colored than when he told her to be careful. But she is smiling. A gentle, kind smile. So he moves his lips to hers. He did, after all, have to make sure that she knew that he wasn't upset with her.


End file.
